Improvement in sewing-machines for working button-holes



Sew/2y Fig. 2;

Witnesses.

UNITED STATES PATENT Frito EDMUND HOWARD, OF FLUSHING, AND W. H. JAOKSON, OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN SEWING-MACHINES FOR WORKING BUTTON-HOLES.v

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 94,212, dated August31, 1869.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, EDMUND HOWARD, ofFlushing, New York, and W. H. JACKSON, of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State ot' New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Sewing Machines; and we do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon,

' like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

a To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use ourinvention, we will proceed u to describe it.'

Our invention relates to certain improve. ments on-an attachment forsewing-machines practical working of our attachment, to make someimportant change's in some ot" the devices composing it. These changes,with some additions, constitute ,the principal features of our presentinvention, which consists, mainly, in the novel construction andarrangement of a lever device for drawing the shuttlc-thread back from,and returning with it back to, the edge of the goods, as well as in theuse of a spring so arranged as to control the slack of this thread, andalso in the employment of a novel device for regulating the length ofthe stitch, and in the productionr of the stitch itself. A

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top-plan view ot' our attachment, showingit secured in place upon a sewing-machine. Fig. 2-is a top-plan view ofthe same with the upper plate of our attachment removed. Fig. 3is atop-plan view of the upper plate of our attachment detached. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of a portion of the devices of a sewing-machine, and ofourattachment, in the act of forming the l stitch, and of the stitcheswhen loosely formed.

Fig. 5 is vau edge or side view of our stitchregulator attached to thelegof the feed-brake- Fig. 6 1s a front view of the lower part of ourstitch-regulator, broken off; and Fig. 7 is a cross-section on the linew x ot' Fig. 6.

In constructing our attachment, designed to be placed upon the bed-plateor platform of a shuttle-machine of the Singer or any similarmanufacture, We make two plates, A and B, the former to be attached tothe shuttlecarrier, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and the latter to beplaced immediately over it and attached in the position ot' the ordinarythroatpiece, as shown in Fig. l. The form of these plates is shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3. To vthe upper side of the plate A we attach cams a.and b', in the relative positions, and shaped as shown in Fig. 2, and soas to turn freely on their points of attachment. 1 These cams a and bare held in position by springs c, attached to the plate, as shown alsoin Fig. 2; and also to the same plate we attach .rigidly the cams b andk, in the relative positions and shaped asshown in the same figure. Ifdesired,.one or both of these cams may form a part of the plate, though,preferably, we attach the cam b, and make the cam k a part of the plate.Y

The upper plate B we construct with a tang, Gr, on its rear side, forattachment to the bedplate of the machine, in the place occupied by thethroat-plate, as shown in Fig. 1, and near its front side we provide` athroat hole, l, through which the needle plays, as shown -in Fig. 1. Tothis plate B, on its upper side, we attachthe bent lever O and theelbow-levers D and E, in the relative positions and shaped as cleanlyshown in Figs. 1 and` 3, and so as to turn freely about their respectivepoints of attachment, m, a, and o. The short arm of the lever C isoperated by means of a pin, attached and projecting under it, actingagainst the cani b on the plate A. The long arm of the lever is curvedslightly, both in its vertical and horizontal planes, so as to beparallel with that portion of the plateB which is immediately under itsrange of motion, and'also so that its extreme end, which is providedwith an eye, may have this eye brought di'- rectlyunder thethroathole lof the plate, the

edge of the plateat this point being con structed with a lip, in whichthe throat-hole is located, and so arranged as to permit the eye of thelever to come directly under the throat-hole,'-as shown in Figs. 3 and4.

The front end of the arm gV of the elbow-lever D enters a groove (shownin dotted lilies in Fig.`3) of the requisite length to partially limitits movement, and near its end has a hook, F, pivoted to it, curved -inboth its ver` tical and horizontal planes', and provided on its outeredge and front end with a groove, to catch the thread and guide it, aswill be explained hereafter. This hook F is also connected loosely tothe arm f of the elbow-lever E by. 'a link, It, its point of connectionbeing a little in front of its point of connection to the arm of thelever D, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. The end ofthe arm d ofthe elbow-lever D is provided with an oblong openingor slot, which lies`or lits on a pin at-V tached to the upper side of the arm e-of the elhow-lever E, as clearly shown .in Figs. 1 and .3, in such a manner as topermit the pin to move freely in the slot, the length of which Alimitsthe movement of the lever D, as'shown in the same figures. The arm e ofthe elbowlever E'has also another pin, j, on its under side, whichenters and passes through anfoblong opening or slot p in ,ther plateB,and is acted on by the` cam a., pivoted to the plate` A, as shown inFig.'1. To the under side of the plate B is attached at one end'astraight spring, q, at right angles to the length :of the plate, and soas to be under the long. armof the lever C, and to have its free endtoward the throat-hole, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. l. Therelative length, shape, form, position, 4and connections of thesedierentv mechanical devices are shown in the drawings, and are such asto produce the different movements hereinafter described.-

To apply and operate this attachment to' and with the sewing-machinesmentioned, we first remove from them the throatpiece,and' then connectvthel under plate A to the shut- 'cle-carrier H by means of a screw, and.over

the plate A we placethe plate B, fastening it* to the bed-plate of themachine by'means'of a screw, which passes-throughsthe. tang Gr, whichlies in the `same seat aoccupied bythe throat-piece when it is'on themachine, these plates having been first providedwiththe mechanicaldevices described. The upper or needle thread is adjusted in theusnalmanner. The lower or shuttle thread, comingvfrom the bobbin, ispassed under the spring q, and then-through the eye inthe en d of thearm of the lever C, if the lever is thrown'back,r as shown in Fig. l.lThe cloth on` which.A the stitch is to he worked, whether'on itsedgezorin a button-hole, is then adjusted, yand the proper tension given to thethreadsfbythe The machine is thenoper'-l usual devices.

ated. l

The needle descends, carrying its thread, through the loop of which-theshuttle passes,

in the usual way, and as the shuttle returnsthe devices take theposition-clearly shown in Fig. 1. This position is taken almostimmediately after it commences its return, and, as it contiuue's'itsreturn, the hookFcatches the lower or shuttle thread in the groove onits end and carries it forward over *the throat l, the longV arm of thelever C quickly following it, and takinga position with its eye directlyunder the throat. At the same instantthe arms fand g ot'theelbow-leversD and E move a short distance inthe direction of the forward lineof theshuttle, carrying the -hook f with them, which, by this motion, spreadso'r opens the thread into a loop, gets out of the way of the'needle, andlreturns-to its former position. As it returns the needle goes throughthe loop thus formed, and on through .the throat in the plate and theeye in the end of the lever G, carrying-itsvthread with it, through theloop of which the shuttle again passes. Then, as the needle'ascends, andas soon as it rises from the throat, the arm of the lever C draws therstitch tight, and draws ,the upper or needle.

thread `both fromabove and below the edge ot' the-cloth, and forms thepurl ofthe thread in a line onI the edge.

whenfdrawn` tightly together by the armfof .the lever, must make thestitch as described.

In operating the machine with our attachmeut we .have found it necessaryoftentimes, -a-nd especially in formingthe stitches around the innerends of -button-holes against which the eyeof the button bears, to havethe feed- ,v regulator so present the edge of the curve of the:button-holeV that the stitches about this curve will be'uniform withthe rest of the work. To dothis -it is necessary that the feedgraduallymove more vrapidly -as the stitches are worked-from thebeginning of the curve to its.

v highest point, andin like manner move slower as it passes from thispoint to the straight edgel of the button-hole. The reason for this isthat,

. unles'sitwere done, the stitchesaboutthe curve would lnot be atuniform distances.' To accomplish this we attach to the leglof thebra-ke or-feeding device a stitch-regulator, or device' for regulatingthe feed, as desired, and soar-y rangev-it that the operatorA canincrease -or diminish therapidity of the feed at the sametime,and.without interfering with his. general management of the work.

This device is shownin Figs. 5, 6, andv 7 and consists of a spring, J,with av yoke, fr, at-

tachedV loosely to its upper-end, which yoke lstraddles and `is securedto the arm I of the usualfrock-shaft. The lower end-of the spring isconnected by rode-with the usual legfor clutching the feed-wheel. Thisspringris fiat, andFig.-5 shows-an edge view. Itslowerend is providedwith awedge-shaped piece, T, having acurved oblong slot or opening, s,below which projects a handle, K, as shown in Fig. 6, which presents afront view. The material forming this -slotis made wedge-shaped longi-The stitch thus made vis shown in Fig. 4, and closely resembles thelhand made button'- hole` stitch.

tudinally, as clearly shown in section in Fig. 7 the smaller end beingat t, land the larger at u. The slot s, in attaching the spring to theleg of the bra-ke, is slipped on the rod c, connecting the leg of thebrake to the brake itself of the machine, and 'over it are placed thethumb-nuts L, ordinarily used to regulate the length of the rod c, andthrough it the feed and length of stitch.

Instead of using these thumb-nuts, we use our stitch-regulator. We havefound from eX- perience that the thumb-nut cannot be manipulated withsuiicient ease and rapidity to regulate the feed as desired for turningthe curve in the button-hole; but by'means of our device the rod 'u isgradually lengthened or shortened by simply swinging or turning ourstitchregulator backward 'or forward, the wedge'- shaped piece T and theaction of the spring accomplishing this result.

Having thus described the improvements constituting oui` invention, whatwe claim is- 1. The lever C, arranged to carry the shut-A tlc-thread anddraw the loops of .the needlethread to the edge of' the cloth and lockthem there, substantially as described.

2; The vibrating hook F, in combination Wit the elbow'levers D and E,constructed and Var-l ranged to operate as described, whereby the hookis made to carry the shuttle-thread up over the edge of the fabric, toengage with the needle-thread, and then move out of the Way of theneedle, as set forth.

3. In combination with the lever C and the hook F, with itsoperating-levers, we claim the plate A, provided with its cams a, b, b',and k, for operating the levers O, D, and'E, with hook F, substantiallyas herein described.

4. The pivoted wedge-shaped piece T,:in vcombination with the rockingarm I,.for varying the vextent o't' the feed-motion, substantially'asherein described.

EDMUN D HOWARD. W. H. JACKSON.

Witnesses H. B. MUNN, W. C. DODGE.

